As a bar owner, you’re always on the lookout for an opportunity to expand your hospitality business! One way to accomplish this is through a bar marketing campaign; a set series of actions designed to increase your presence in the community, increase the number of customers, and bring in more profit! Setting up a bar marketing campaign won’t be easy, but it is manageable, just follow these steps.

Step 1: Pre-Launch Research

The first item to accomplish before your launch is to review your current marketing targets and strategies. When you first conducted marketing research for your bar, what data were you able to obtain? What demographics were you able to find on your target customers?

The research you had initially found may be out to date, so you must also look at who currently comes to your bar. Choose three days to observe customers, preferably on your slowest night, busiest night, and middle amount of traffic night. Don’t ask your customers directly for information, many will be turned off by this! Simply try and count how many people come in each hour, how many are male or female, and who spend the most (and least).

The information you gather will determine how to proceed to the next step…

Step 2: Selecting a Target

Now that you know who is coming to your bar, your next step is to decide what message you want to communicate and how you want customers to react. Your bar theme can relate to your marketing efforts very well, keep that in mind as you move forward.

With your customer mix known, think about how you can divide them into groups. You can use age, relative income, or any of a number of groups. For your campaign though, only choose one. A marketing campaign can be thought of like an experiment, so when you have one variable to deal with (a group of people) then it is easier to see where any mistakes were after the campaign is over.

One group of customers should have a few characteristics that they share. For instance, “young adults” can be between the age of 21 and 29, use social media more so than other groups, are less likely to have children, and have more disposable income. If the group you picked has too few characteristics, select a different group.

Step 3: Write your Message

What do you want for your bar? Higher profits, more customers, increased presence? Once you know what you want, you can decide how to find out what the customer wants. Higher profits for you can become a music night with a local band, which brings in more customers and more money.

Writing your message is simply deciding what actions you will take to accomplish your goals. Using your target group, consider what appeals to them. Middle age customers may enjoy a night of karaoke, while college students will want to take part in a singles night. Pick at least three options to explore. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal, ask your employees to give you input, and then decide upon one.

When you have your proposal, next is to decide how to send out the message. Again, look at who you are targeting. Younger customers will respond better to changes to your website, postings on Facebook and Twitter, and flyers around places where they hang out. Older customers will respond to website changes, newspaper advertisements, and e-mails. Weigh each option with the costs and benefits, choosing a couple of venues to send out your message.

Step 4: Launch your Campaign

Now you are ready to launch your campaign! Write down what actions you will take, inform your employees of any necessary changes, and begin calling and posting to send out your message. Have your employees remind target customers of the upcoming event! When the big day comes, intervene as little as possible. The more changes you make, the harder it will be to evaluate how much of a success your efforts were. At most, your efforts should be counting how many customers come in, how many match your target customers, and watching sales.

Following the event, compare how well you matched your plan. How many customers came to the event and how does it compare to a typical night? Did your sales increase?

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